180 mn Indians watching YouTube on mobile phones alone

Mumbai, March 23 (IANS) With nearly 300 millions smartphone users in the country as better connectivity and affordable data plans come to the fore, YouTube on Thursday said it has now reached 180 million Indians on mobile phones alone.

In the last one year, YouTube consumption on mobiles has grown from 55 percent to reach 80 percent and watch time growth on mobile is growing at 400 per cent year on year, YouTube said during its fourth ‘YouTube Fanfesta’ here.

“We’re seeing more hunger for YouTube content across all genres. In 2016, we saw over 500 creators across India get over 100k subscribers,” said David Powell, Director of Online Partnerships and Development, YouTube, APAC.

This meteoric rise of content creators across the country is at the heart of YouTube’s popularity in India, and we are significantly ramping up our efforts to make India one of the most vibrant and successful content creator communities in Asia, he added.

“We will ramp up our efforts in creator community events across the country with a big focus on the south of India, and will continue to put the spotlight on creators as with our recent #SeeSomethingNew campaign,” Powell added.

Talking about its explosive growth in India, YouTube highlighted that 2016 was the year of online creators in India with 14 creators hitting 1 million subscribers every month.

With more Indians coming online in tier 2 cities, YouTube is seeing huge appetite for fresh and new content in India propelling online creators to hit new milestones in India, the company stressed.